New Delhi, March 28 Amid growing concerns about the spread of coronavirus in India came more worrying news on Saturday: the country's total corona-affected patient count, including those who have been cured, has crossed 1,000. The number now stands at 1,008.
In the morning on Saturday, the count stood at 873, according to figures on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India has 909 active cases of coronavirus as of Saturday evening. Out of them, 862 are Ind and 47 foreign nationals.
Besides 909 active cases, the country has reported 19 casualties so far while 80 persons have recovered or have been discharged. While the casualty count hasn't increased since morning, two more individuals have been declared cured ever since.
The disease has so far spread to 27 states and UTs. A total of 103 districts have been affected by the highly contagious virus.
Meanwhile, 5 new cases have been detected in Noida, just a few kilometers from the national capital.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, said on Saturday that the Centre is working with state governments on health infrastructure preparedness, which involves focussing on building dedicated COVID hospitals and blocks and isolation beds and other logistics.
He said the Centre is also focussing on high disease-burden hotspots and closely coordinating with states to implement contact-tracing, surveillance and containment strategies. Seventeen states have started working on setting up dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, said Agarwal.
The Health Ministry said doctors across the country are being trained on management of COVID-19 patients with the help of AIIMS, and a round-the-clock tele-consultation for doctors and medical students has been set up at AIIMS.
A Ministry of Home Affairs official said state governments have been asked to utilize the disaster fund to implement relief measures for migrant workers. "States can set up camps as temporary shelter, where people could also be tested for COVID-19", said the official.
( With inputs from IANS )